Pelni timetable and Bitun, Suraweshi - 6

Indonesian visa - paperworks

(Partly relating to Surawesi - General Santos sea route with immigration office location within northern Surawesi)

In Manado:

Address: Jl. 17 Agustus No.45, Telp: 0431-841688, 863491

                       

                                                    

In Bitung:

Immigration office is located as follows on the map below.

Address: Jl. Dr. Sam Ratulangi, Telp: 0438-31869

 This place is approx. 1.5km from the port of Bitung and as the following map shows it is also right next to a Pelni ffice.

 This is showing you the town of Bitung.

          Another one in town.

The most obvious landmark will be the tunas, as shown here. Bitung is where tunas are unloaded from fishing boats and taken to Manado airtport for flight to Tokyo for

 immediate consumption.

 

However, you cannot get your boat ticket at this Pelni office as the ship is not one of theirs. You should not expect a ship like below, either.

 This is a much more decent ship meant for island hoppers in the region.

The ship we are talking about is a small cargo boat meant to carry chickens and stuff between Surawesi and Mindanao and passengers are only additional loads as far as the ship is concerned.

It will take some 5 days back and forth, costing you approx. 15 USD equivalent one way. Sailing frequency is small, once a week from Bitung at 14:00 on Saturdays only.

Not much else is known at the time of writing this, primariy because few records have been left to date. There is a very vivid account of the voyage made by a Japanese backpacker.

He made his quick return trip for visa renewal only, Bitung-Gensan-Bitung without spending time in Gensan. He was travelling with half a dozen European backpackers and local people , but he did not leave concrete information at all let alone year record.

In his account, even one married European couple made it from the Phyls by the same boat back to Bitung, all with a very large number of noisy chickens on board.

So, all we know is that this cargo service is perhaps handled by EPA Shipping Lines in Bitung. We know where their office is located.

EPA Shipping Lines : 089-380-3591

PHP 1800, twice weekly and approx. 36 hours one way. Check with tourist office and there is also an Indonesian Consulate in Davao.

See following maps and photos.

                   

                                            

                

As a matter of fact, there is another shipping line involved in this route.

EAGA AGRO MARINE PUTRI SHIPPING AGENCY : TEL: 063-553-4552/552-9824

 They even run a car rental as follows.

EAGA Rent-a-Car Services @ Rivera St, Lagao, Gensan TEL: 063-552-3470   

However, it is my impression that they really only look after cargos, not passengers.

As I mentioned earlier I do not think these local (well, almost) traffics are subjcted to political and economic turmoils. So, despite universal suspicions and doubts and all other nagging thoughts I believe that this route is alive at all times. 

What follows are some more photos of Bitung.

                                                 

                             

          

This is a lovely port town and in the nearby forests you will see small monkeys as you also find elsewhere in Bohol in the Phyls.

                                          

On a slightly seperate note and for your visa information in general what follows must be of value to all of us.

Visas-on-arrival (35 USD) :

If you are arriving/departing using Manado International airport or port of Bitung you will need to obtain a visa-on-arrival even if your stay as a tourist is limited to less than 30 days (not extendable).

In so doing you need to have your valid passport with more than 6 months left and more than 3 blank pages. You will also need to have a valid ticket for going out of Indonesia.

No visa entry :

This no visa entry practice is based on the declaration by Indonesian government made and put into practice on 12 June 2015 that:

Travellers from 30 countries including Japan are exempt from obtaining visas prior to entering Indonesia as tourists if their intention is for staying less than 30 days. 

However, you can benefit from this procedure at the following places only.

5 international airports :

Jakarta, Denpasar, Medan, Surabaya, and Batum

3 sea ports :

Tanjung Pinang, Batum (Batum Centre and Sekpan), and Tanjung Ubang

Please note that :

Even if you enter Indonesia via one of above places but intend to leave Indonesia from a place not listed above you will still need to obtain a visa-on-arrival.

For example, if you enter Indonesia at Jakarta International and intend to depart from Yogyakarta you will still need to obtain a visa-on-arrival.

If you do not want to do that for some reason you will then be asked to depart from one of the above listed places.

In the next article I will be looking at what it is like at the other end in General Santos, aka, Gensan locally.

Pelni timetable and Sandakan/Tawau Northern Borneo - 5

From article 4 of this Pelni series we now know where Indonesian consulates are located in northern Borneo.

One in Kota Kinabalu and one in Tawau, but not in Sandkan (for entry into Indonesia).

       (Tawau consulate)

Let us consider why consulates come into the picture in the first place, of border crossing from the Phyls through Malaysian Borneo into Indonesia and in fact this is where things get muddy.

So, best to concentrate on one direction only for the moment.

Going through this route from Indonesia into the Phyls is not a problem, simply because both Malaysia and the Philippines offer visas-on-arrival, assuming, of course, that you

 have a valid passport.

The only thing that then matters is that you cannot bypass Malaysia, but that is not a big issue. By the sea route from Indonesia you simply arrive at Tawau and the rest will be more or less domestic matters within the boundaries of Malaysian Borneo.

However, coming down the other way is a lot more complicated.

There are good reasons. In theroy, then:

1. The Philippines immigration will not let you out into Malaysia unless you have a valid ticket for going out from Malaysia once in.

2. Malaysian authorities in Sandakan will not let you in without a valid ticket for going out of Malaysia,

3. let alone with Indonesian authorities letting you in at Tawau, unless you have a valid ticket for going out of Indonesia with proper entry records into Malaysia.

All this sounds formidable and :

You may wonder why, and my own answer to that is the strict passport control by Indonesia. For instance, once you are in Malaysia and/or in the Phyls you can extend your visa without going out of the respective country.

With Indonesia you cannot do that and in fact that is why some people tried in the past to solve this problem by going into the Phyls via Surawesi-General Santos route. I will come to that later, as it is an important topic on its own.

What you should know as the Tawau paperwork is as follows.

1. The visa you can ask for is a 60 day once only entry visa. If you apply in the morning you may get it in the afternoon of the same day.

2. You shoud have a valid passport.

3. Copies of the passport main pages and in particular a copy of the page with the Malaysian entry stamp. (I always make copies anyway for renting cars and bikes)

4. Ticket for going out of Indonesia

5.  Two Photos

You are expected to pay for all this by MR. So, have ready MR 200.

Having cleared your passport business you then proceed to the pier and your boats shoud be waiting for you as follows.

                   

 

Let us recap here what we have been looking at. Will it be a long way from the ferry terminal at Zamboanga?

Once you are in here go to the ticket office and pay PHP 3100 one way. As I remember it the other way is something like MR 250, I think.

Immigration office is in the waiting section on the right as you enter this area. There are lots of 2 Go service notices, but this place is not exclusively for their 2 Go ferry service. So, just walk in.

                   (2 Go ferry, domestic only)

Liners depart twice a week (Monday and Thursday) at noon, taking approx. 24 hours to reach Sandakan from here.

I would not reccommend taking high speed boats as they will make stops at Islamic radicals infested islands down the way to Sandakan.

(SRN Fastcraft : 062-992-3765 by Weesam Express boats twice weekly, PHP 5400 and approx. 8 hours)

            (Alleson liner PPA Terminal)

Aleson Lines : 062-991-2687

                   1st deck space is used for cargos and passengrs occupy levels above.

Here perhaps, I should touch on Indonesian visas-on-arrival. There are 2 types, 7 day and 30 day visas at 10 and 25 USD each.   

You need a valid passport and show your outgoing ticket.

Airports are:

Bali, Jakarta, Denpasar, Surabaya, Medan, Manado, Balikpapan, Surakarta (Solo), Lombok, Padan, Makassar, Kupan, Yogyakarta and Pakanbal

Sea ports are:

Jakarta, Batum, Medan, Makassar, Surabaya, Bali,  Jayapura, Bintan, Dumai, Padan, and Belawan

Keep in mind that there may be a few omissioons and new additions.

I once flew into Tarakan airport from KK via Tawau aiport. My passport was confiscated for obvious reasons. So, you really need to tun up at the Tawau consulate.

Pelni timetable and Northern Borneo/Indonesian Kalimantan - 4

Next issue to be looked at is the locations of immigration office.

Specifically, we need to know where Indonesian consulates are in northern Borneo, as Indonesia do not cater for visas-on-arrival (except at certain places) unlike Malaysia and the Phyls.

You might then think that since the linkage we are looking at is between Sandakan and Zamboanga there is an office of some sort in Sandakan. It is not true and there is nothing in Sandakan for entry into Indonesia.

Indonesian consulates you need for entry into Indonesia

                                          

in Malaysian Borneo only operate in Kota Kinabalu on the other side and Tawau on Mindanao side. Tawau, in particular, is important because Tawau is closest to Indonesia's Nunukan by sea and Tarakan by both sea and air.

And, neither Nunukan nor Tarakan issue visas on arrival. That is why Tawau is deemed important not just as a nearest gateway to Indonesia, but also as a base for getting the paperwork done.

               

It is also physically very far from Sandakan. I have done this Sandakan-Tawau route by a rentacar and it takes 6,7hours. There is no ferry link between Tawau and Sandakan, either.

So, Indonesia (only) present a practical visa problem. In what follows I will be mindful of this fact and guide you through as painlessly as possible.

Before going any further let us be clear about the location of the Consulate in KK and Tawau.

In Kota Kibabalu it is not that difficult to find the Indonesian consulate in town. 

                            

There is only one river in Kota Kinabalu as you will see, coming into town from the airport. Where two rivers meet is the Consulate. You can check this area against any other Google maps and locate it.

                   The largest structure you can see on above aerial photo is the raised road crossing another main road underneath, coming from town centre. I was a frequent user of these roads until recently.

Next, take a look at Tawau.

Tawau looks like as follows.

I stayed here in January 2016 for a few days. It is fairly a large town and I found

 walking about in heat was too much.

What follows is the pier location. I should imagine that the distance between them is approx. 4km. I woud not dare walk to the pier.

                      Tawau, areawise, is a much larger town than Sandakan. Sandakan is a lot smaller than KK and KK is a very small town.

I should perhaps add, at the end of this article, that Idonesia do offer visas-on-arrival at some key places. I will come to that and other issues in the next article.

 

Pelni timetable and Zamboanga/Sandakan - 3

Here, I will talk about Zamboanga-Sandakan route, only.

What you want to know is where you can actually buy your tickets and what you should expect in each of these two port towns. Having got it out of the way I will then talk about details.

In Zambpanga you can buy your tickets at the terminal building close to the pier for

 high speed boats. See following pictures.

 This picture above is showing you the aerial view of the port of Zamboanga. Port terminal is the large white building on this photo.

You can see it better with the following photo below.

 The outermost pier is for liners, linking Zamboanga and Sandakan direct. High speed boats willl make a few stops on

the way. Even larger one is the following.

In Sandakan the matter is more complicated, because tickets are not sold in the town centre of Sandakan. For that matter, the pier itself is located in an area called Karamunting, some 7km outside Sandakan town centre and your ticketing office is not there either, but somewhere between them.

Best to deal with this complication with pictures.

                                  

On this picture above the smallest square at the bottom left is the location of the pier. Sandakan is on the right within the largest square, and the ticketing office is to the left of this large square.

The distance between the pier and the town centre is approx. 7km. There are other piers closer to Sandakan town centre, but they are meant for Malaysian navy/coastguard ships.

              

This aerial photo above is showing you the exact location of the ticketing office, slightly outside town centre. It is a very small office, almost unnoticeable on the ground floor of a hotel called "Hsian Garden". Office name is Maritime (TEL: 089-212-063)

Apparently, there are inscriptions on the outside both in Malay and Chinese languages.

Yo may also try at the following office inSandakan.

 
Standard Marine Agencies Sdn Bhd Block G,
Lot 1, 1st floor, Bandar, Ramai-Ramai, Jalan Leila,
Sandakan, Sabah Malaysia
Tel # (0060)(89) 216-996, 217-607, 271-998
E-mail Address: chowyangann@standard-marine.com.my

So, I have dealt with ticket office locations. On the next article I will talk about locations of immigration office and visa requirements with a few route maps.

One small note of caution here might be the fact that as far as I am concerned being able to cross into the Phyls or Malaysia/Indonesia is not the prerequisite of going about largely in the historical context of the Banda sea area. 

 

Pelni timetable and Philippino-Indonesian border crossings - 2

Let us take a look at the grandest pictures first.

                       

My primary interest is the navigation within the largest square area. The area surrounding Jakarta is of little interest for the moment. On the border line between these two squares lies Surabaya.

Another smaller square up top is also of great interest to me. Since the Philippines is only a few hours flight from Tokyo this area contains very natural gateways to the regions further south.

To talk about them I need another picture, enlarging the area in question as follows.

      

 

3  natural routes are immediately noticeable on this map. P, Z, ad G.

Of these the route designated as "P", coming down from Metro Manila, through Mindro, then down the whole length of Palawan, and ending up in Kota Kinabalu possibly is a non-starter. I have not been able to find any reference to it.

I can think of the reason. The other two routes have a very heavily populated hinderland in terms of Mindanao, warranting large ports anywhere on the island. And yet, on Palawan the largest port is only located in Puerto Princesa where population concentration is highest.

Also, all these routes are more or less constantly under islamic influence and are politically unstable at times. That will explain the lack of significant port fascilities in regions south of Puerto Princesa.

However, crossing services by much smaller local boats linking small islands along this chain north of Puerto Princesa, particularly north of El Nido, are active enough and I could spend pages on them. That will have to be seprate threads, though.

On the route "Z" there are tons of information that confirm exsitence of active ferry services along this chain of islands. In fact, there are two types of services available as I have noticed from reading web pages.

One is a direct ship link between Zamboanga on Mindanao and SandaKan on the eastern coast of Malaysian (north) Borneo. The other also links to Sandakan from Zamboanga, but by high speed boats, stopping at a few islands on the way down to Sandakan.

The route "G" is a little more problematic. I was only able to find one web record by a Japanese backpacker who did Surawesi-General Santos-Surawesi when his visa was about to expire.

He failed to mention which year it was, but it is a very reliable and vivid source of information on this route as very few other records have been left by European backpackers (Aussies included).

However, I believe that this Japanese record is fairly recent and an added reason for believing that this route is still active is that this Japanese fellow talks about chickens, lots and lots of them loaded as a cargo on the same boat back to Surawesi. It is well known that fighting cocks are one of the main export items from the Phyls to Indonesia.

These birds are hand-carried by local people on local boats down the Surawesi chain of islands and it is hard to imagine such traditional and local traffics can be closed for any length of time.

OK, I have talked about three routes up north. Later, I wil be able to provide detailed and concrete information for making use of these routes.

I have not yet talked about Indonesian domestic routes. These routes need to be looked at in the light of realistic factors affecting regular operations of these very large ships, all manufactured in Germany specifically for Indonesian internal waters.

I will be looking at them primarily from the viewpoint of overseas tourists. They are very much unlike what we are familiar with domestically, but for good reasons.

I will be talking about them sometimes as a netwrok and at other times as single entities set against the background of national network, with specific touristic goals in mind.

 

 

 

ボホ－ル紀行 （37）

ダバオ滞在最終日は現地の知り合いと空港北側の大きな駐車場の角にあるデュ－ティ－フリ－土産物店で待ち合わせしてタクシ－でＳＭ　Ｌａｎａｎｇという巨大なショッピングモールに移動して、所用を済ませた。位置関係は以下の画像で示す。　　

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　更に引いてみると旧市街が目に入ってくる。後背地は山が多いことが分かる。

　　　　　　　

モ－ルから旧市街までは直線距離なら4ｋｍ程だと思うが、メトロマニラ程ではなくても猛烈な渋滞があるので地下鉄が出来れば素晴らしい。恐らく路線も短く空港と旧市街をＳＭLanang経由で作られるのではないだろうか。

このモ－ルの海側の２階部分と連絡通路で結ばれているホテルに

　　　　　　　　　　

前回は泊まっていたので、勝手がわかっていた事と、なんといっても最新の巨大モールで、空港の内外には、これといったレストランがないので、フライトを待つには一番便利な場所だった事も理由だ。Dan Brown　の最新作？　Inferno　を買ったのもここの本屋だった。

このホテルの、上の画像では左側、つまり海側は広大な空き地で、ブルド－ザ－が行きかっているので、理由を聞いたら、大きなコンドミが作られるらしい。海岸まで2ｋｍほどの場所だ。

モ－ルはこの画像では右側になる。

このモ－ルで食べたイカ焼きは最高に美味だった。特大の大きさだったが、「柔らかくてジュ－シ－で」という、よく使われるほめ言葉がそのまま当てはまる絶品で、タグビラランの疑似海鮮店で頼んだのはタイヤのゴムみたいに硬かったが、ここのは素晴らしかった。

　　　　

実は、最近読み込んでいる日本人バックパッカ－の旅行記から判断すると、東南アジアで彼らが何を主に食べているかと言えば、イカ焼きだ。勿論、定番のナシゴレンとかは別として。理由を考えてみた。

最大の理由は、日本にもあるので正体が分かりやすいし、更に、漠然と醤油ベ－スの熱々を期待出来るからだろう。勿論、味付けに関しては完全に裏切られても不思議ではない。自分で、勝手にそうであって欲しいと思っているだけで、しょうゆ味である必然性はないからだ。

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

でも、総じて甘い味付けの多いフィリピンでも、今まで訪れたことのないタイや、一部しか知らないインドネシアの現地味付けの中でも、理由は全く不明だが、何故か孤高のしょうゆ味が守られている。

ビ－ルには最適だし、然も日本のイカと比べると２倍くらいの巨大イカなので、それだけで満腹になる。それともう一つ重要なことは常に熱々の状態で出てくることだ。つまり、海鮮的なのだ。だから、最悪の場合、イカは甘くても、すっぱくても、許せる気がする食材だと思う。

当日は日曜日だったので家族ずれなどで賑わっていて、この人達は一体どのような人達で、普段はどこに住んで何をしているのだろうと、とても不思議に思った。

　　　　　　　　

恐らく郊外に住む中産階級の人達で、モ－ルには巨大な駐車場が隣接しているので、車で来ている

のかもしれない。　　　でも、貧しい民家は今でも、モ－ルの周辺に

はわんさかとあるし、　そこに住む人たちが来れないわけではないだろうが、圧倒的な貧富の差に驚くのではないだろうか。なにしろ海側にはこのような貧しい家並みが延々と続いているのだから。

モ－ルは兎に角大きい。その中の巨大ス－パ－の面積と品ぞろえ、レジの数は、日本でも見たこと

がないほど大きい。　

誰が買いに来るのか、採算が取れるのか心配してしまうほど大きいし、大きすぎて実際の買い物には不便なのに、開発途上の国では、それが人集めのためのウリになっているのだと思われる。

その他のテナントの食品関係の品ぞろえも、スウイ－ツ等をじっくり見ても、日本と変わらないと思った。今回は見かけなかったが、ヤマハの全自動ピアノの演奏とか、お台場や、行ったことはないが、千葉のララポ－トあたりにでもありそうな環境で、学校の先生の平均月収が１万円程度の経済で、よく採算が取れるものだと驚くばかりだ。

例えば、この上の画像ではモ－ルの中に販促用の車が持ち込まれている。１台、軽く３００万円位はするので、人によっては一生分の年収をすべてつぎ込んでも買えない。フィリピン経済のいびつさが良く示されていると思う１枚だ。 

Davao->Manila 5Ｊ　956 Cebu Pacific 
23:35 －＞ 1:25  、then approx. 4 hours idling in Manila

成田へはマニラ経由で数時間の待ち時間があったが、前回マニラ経由でコタキナバルに戻る時よりは全然楽だった。前回と同じような待ち時間だったので有料ラウンジで休息をと考えていたのに、同じラウンジがいくら探しても見つからなかったのでタ－ミナルが違ったのだと思う。

なので、そのまま通常の搭乗口付近で過ごしたが、人も少なくて空席ばかりだし、少しウトウトしただけで搭乗時間がすぐ来てしまった。つかの間のバックパカ－の気分で楽しい経験ではあった。

成田までは高々４時間くらいなので、矢張り近場の旅行は楽だとつくづく思った。帰りの便は、ほとんど全員がフィリピン人で、日本には常時、相当数のフィリピン人が滞在していることが伺われた。

Manila-> Narita, Tokyo  Cebu Pacific Terminal 3
5:20 ->10:35  Back In Tokyo 

東京駅までのリムジンバスは３千円だったが、バス内の英語表示には間違いがなく、京成バスの謎解きみたいな英語の車内表示よりは洗練されていた。が、それ以外の違いは皆無だった。 
 

ボホ－ル紀行 （36）

30 (Sat)  Return to Tokyo by Cebu Pacific

Rent a bike for the morning only

～11:00 return pier and ferry/taxi to Davao airport

この日の午前中はバイクをレンタルして、前回とは反対方向の、島の南部分を探索してみたのは前述の通りだ。一言で感想を言えば、この島は潜在的にはボホ－ル島南部に隣接したPanglao島以上のリゾ－トとしての可能性を持っていることだろう。

そのようなリゾ－ト施設の画像の幾つかが次になる。

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

　　　　　　

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

　　　　この左側の画像は一般地元民用の、いわば海水浴場的な場所で、フェリ－乗り場のすぐ近く、ダバオ市街に面した場所にあって、賑わっているように見える。

直前の記事のリゾ－トを海から見たのが次の画像で、　今回は行かなかったが、ダバオと反対側の太平洋を周回道路から見ると次のように見える。

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

間違いのないように記録に残しておくと、この島はレイテ島のそばの大きなサマ－ル島でなく、ミンダナオ島のダバオのすぐ沖合の小さなサマ－ル島だ。地図を示す。

　　　　　　　　サマ－ル島は、大きな内湾にある島としては、フィリピン最南部にあると言える。緯度はボルネオ北部のコタキナバルとほとんど変わらないので、気候的にもとても似ているとの印象をずっと持っている。

実際、この地図の一番下のサンボンアンガから定期フェリ－でコタキナバルの反対側にある、サンダカンという町に移動することが可能だ。以下がサマ－ル島の拡大図になる。

　　　　　　　　　　　

この島の特徴は幾つかある。

第一には、フィリピン第三の大都市ダバオ（第二の都市がセブになる、らしい）からフェリ－でわずか５分の所にあること。

最近のニュ－スでは、フィリピン最初の地下鉄が日本の資金で建設されるらしいし、空港もフェリ－ポ－トからすぐ目の前にあるので、大都市の潜在的なアメニティ－はすべて揃っている。日本でいえば、銀座の沖合に伊豆大島が引っ越してきたようなものだ。

パングラオは大都会のセブからはフェリ－で２時間もかかるし、一番近くて大きなタグビラランの町も、所詮は田舎町でしかないので、まともなレストランもない印象を強く受けた。

パングラオにあるリゾ－トは確かに素晴らしいと想像するが、中世イタリアの荘園みたいにそれぞれが孤立して閉じた自給自足的な世界で、中にいれば一応のアメニティ－はあるものの、数日ですぐに飽きてしまうだろう。丁度、日本の賢島みたいなものだろう。何よりも島に高低差がないし、面白みが全然ない。仮に、国際空港が来年完成しても、ダバオには圧倒的な優位性がある。

第二に地理的な安心感もある。

今までの経験からすると赤道に近ければ近いほど雨が少なく天気が安定しているからだ。例えば、サマ－ル島よりほんの少しだけ南にあるボルネオ島、コタキナバルでは３か月の間雨は一度も降らなかったし、ボルネオ島最北部のクダットの町の緯度はサマ－ル島とほぼ同じだ。

ところが、ルソン島のマニラは大分北にあるし、２月の初めの１週間の滞在中、連続の雨だった。

次の地図が参考になるだろう。

第三の特徴としては、比較的でしかないものの、平らでなくて、景観の変化がとても好ましいのは、実際に現地をバイクで走ってみるとわかる。　ただの平らな島でしかないパングラオ島とくらべると中央部が小高い山になっているので、なんとなく涼しささえ感じるし、小さな湖や川や滝

さえあるみたいだ。　非常に好ましい印象を受

ける。　この川と滝は内陸部で、町役場や学校のある地区より少し南側にある。

問題は、然し、ある。

サマ－ル島の多くのリゾ－トは、まだ開発段階で、建物の基礎すら存在していない区画整理の段階の所も多い。　今回、時間的な制約で足を延ばすことが出来なかった南部は更に未開発だと思われる。

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

それと、ダバオの街自体も、もっと洗練される必要がある。コタキナバルはある程度洗練された部分もあるが、ダバオは依然として大きな田舎町というのが、正直な印象だ。

町の中にも観光対象は少ない。博物館と教会程度しかないような印象を受けた。少し郊外のワニ園とか日本軍の掘ったトンネルとかも行って見たが、つまらなかった。それにタクシ－で移動すると、空港付近から旧市街方面へはどこも大変な渋滞で、早く地下鉄が出来て、ウオ－タ－フロントが整備されればセブやマクタンをはるかに超える一大観光地になると確信している。

ただ、サマ－ル島自体のインフラの開発は急速に進んでいる印象は受けた。

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　フィリピンでは停電は大問題で、頻繁に起きる。いわゆる長時間のブラックアウトも多いが、短時間のブラウンアウトも多いので、対策を施しているリゾ－トもある。

道路工事は特に内陸部で盛んにおこなわれて

いるし、　周回道路沿いにはリゾ－ト分譲の

　看板が沢山目に入る。　また、サマ－ル

の市街地や住宅地部分も、　フェリ－ポ－トと

は離れているが、　公園があったりして、木陰も多く好ましい印象を受けるし、街中には大小のス－パ－などもあるので

　　　　　　　、　不便さは感じないだろう。

　　　　　

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

を得た。

　　　　　　　　　　　　　

Punta del Sol、やたらにスペイン語が多いのは仕方ない。太陽の場所、の意味だ。

結論から言えばサマ－ルは発展途上ではあるけれど、田舎のリゾ－トではなく、今後も大規模に発展するだろう巨大な（潜在的には）観光地だと思う。何より、ダバオ国際空港が目の前なので、飛行機に飛び乗ればあっという間に成田に帰ってこれるのが素晴らしいと思う。

バイクをレンタル店に返してフェリ－に飛び乗ってダバオに戻った。このフェリ－はいわゆる渡し船で、片道２０ペソ（約５０円）と大変に安いし、荷物検査とか全くないので便利で気軽にのれるので有り難い。

フェリ－乗り場の中までは普通、タクシ－が入ってこないので、表通りまで歩いてタクシ－を捕まえて空港へまで行ってもらったが、数分に１台は通りかかるものの、空車が見つかるまで１０分ほどはかかっただろうか。空港までは多少の渋滞もあるので、矢張り１５分程度は楽にかかってしまう。近道はあるが、歩くと３０分や１時間は空港までかかってしまうと思う

Pelni timetable and Philippino-Indonesian border crossings

Summer 2016

I am going to embark on this somewhat inevitable project for a few reasons.

In so doing I owe a debt of thanks to half a dozen of Japanese backpackers who left detailed records about at least two of the possibe three entry routes through the Phyls into Indonesia.

Needless to say that within the boundaries of Indonesia we are also confronted by inadequate information on the availabilities of approapriate ferry services. I will attmept to remedy this state of affairs by conducting thought  experiments with the notorious Pelni timetable.

At the same time I will also delve into the next inevitable issue of island hopping in this extremely large area, based mostly on Pelni services. Excluded will be the regions west of Surabaya simply because, I believe, there are enough other similar ferry services with more reliable timetables.

I will also touch on local spot light air services to help with eventual exit transfers across the infected regions.

Readers must note, though, that the whole project is squarely an attmpt to shed light on the naive thought that comes natural to Japanese tourists interested in the zona tropical and possibly beyond, turning west to the Peninsular.

ボホ－ル紀行 （35）

ミンダナオ最終日の午前中はバイクをレンタルして、前回とは反対方向の、サマ－ル島の南部分を探索してみた。このバイクは自分でギヤを操作するタイプで、一速では加速が急すぎて危険なので２速で発進するように心がけた。

バイクはフェリ－乗り場のような要所だけでなく、宿泊先のホテルなどでも貸してくれる場合が多い。今回は、島の周回道路との交差点にバイクタクシ－やトライク（トライシクル）と並んで沢山のレンタルバイク店があるので選択の余地はなく、確か半日300ペソで借りたと思う。

払い過ぎなのだが、日本円で

　　　　　　　８００円ほどだ。

今年の２月の宿泊はダバオ市内のホテルだったが、その時に、サマ－ルへフェリ－で足を延ばして行ってみたのが上の地図の青い部分だ。今回は、赤の部分の反対側に行ってみた。この地図で示したように、ダバオの町の古い部分は左下の赤枠の所にある。戦前に日本人が２万人近く住んでいた場所だ。

２月に行った時の、青い線の先の場所の画像は以下になる。

　　　　　　悪い場所ではない。陸側の画像は

　　　　　　　　　　リゾ－トの入り口付近は

　　　　こんな感じだった。ビ－ルを飲んで、日本への出稼ぎフィリピン人と話をしたのも、このリゾ－トだった。

ついでにダバオ旧市街での２月の経験を以下に記述しておく。

例えば、世界最大といわれる中華街も旧市街の中にある。通りを挟んで中華街のすぐ海側はマグサイサイ公園になっているが、ダバオはドリアンの町として有名らしく、コタキナバルに続いて食べてみた。以下の画像のように公園の入口付近には屋台が沢山ある。

　　　　

ドリアンに関してはウエブ上に無数の記事がある。本当に食べたのか疑わしいものが多い。そして、ドリアンが臭いと言うのはウソだ。確かに匂いはあるが別にどうこう言うような匂いではない

し、敢えて言うならメロンのかすかな匂いだろう。

まあ、確かに今まで新鮮なドリアンしか食べたことはない。屋台で、良さそうなものを指さして、その場で解体してもらうからだ。一房食べて、残りはお店の人にあげてしまう。それは皿に小分けして、売られることになる。

実際にそのように売られているのが当たり前で、１個丸ごと買うのは旅行者だけだろう。皿に乗せて売られているのでも特に臭いわけでもないし、そもそも、腐る前に干からびてしまうようにも思える。

解体後の処理の仕方しだいで、あるいは解体しないで、収穫後、そのまま数日でも放置すれば完熟して多少は臭くなるのかも知れないが、でも、誰が好き好んで古い果物を食べるだろうか？

地元にすれば、唯の果物の一つでしかないし、わざわざ古くて臭いものを屋台に置くこともないだろう。

それに、臭いものが屋台に置いてあれば、匂いでわかるだろう。今まで、一度も臭い場面には出くわした事

がない。　クサヤの干物ではないし、臭ければ食べなければいいだけの話で、大抵は、そもそも食べたことがないか、単に大げさなのだと思っている。

それと、ドリアンに関しては、もう一つの神話がある。アルコ－ルと一緒に食べると腹痛に襲われるというもので、それもウソだ。コタキナバルで実験してみた結果、全然問題はなかった。

ドリアンの食感は、表現するのが難しい。敢えて言うなら、桃かもしれない。桃の種の周りの部分の甘みを抑えて、植物繊維の筋の入ったカスタ－ド的果物、と言えば７割位は表現できたと言えるかもしれない。ドリアンの房の中にも大きな種があるので、食べる部分は思ったほど多くはない。

但し、何度も何度も食べたいかと聞かれれば、答えはＮＯだ。特に美味しくないのが最大の理由だ。不味くもないが、値段も他の果物と比べればかなり高いし、安くて美味しいものが他に幾らでもあるから、２,３度食べればそれで十分だと思う。

話を中華街に戻すと、入り口は希望が持てた。画像がそれだ。

　　　希望とは、ここならビ－ルと海鮮のお昼にありつけるだろうと思っていたことで、それは、この通りに入って探すこと３０分以上、歩いて、歩いて、歩き疲れて汗だくになっても見つからなかった。

理由は簡単だ。ここはとても大きな中華街であっても、中華レストラン街ではないからだ。中国系フィリピン人の大きな集落で、雑貨屋やその他の日用品の店はわんさかある。つまり、人は沢山住んでいて、学校とかは当然ある。でも、他の国では中華街＝レストラン街でも、ここでは違う。

まともなレストランは実質上１軒もない。まあ、ジョリビ－とかＦＦ系の店はあるけれど、ネットで見つけたおすすめの海鮮レストランも見つからなかった。期待して行かないほうがよい。

仕方ないので、結局、タクシ－を捕まえて大渋滞の中、ＳＭ　Ｌａｎａｎｇという、２月に泊まったホテルの隣にある巨大モ－ルに戻ってお昼を食べることになってしまった。地下鉄が出来れば大分楽になるのだろうが。

 

Where rivers meet - The Moon Light Sonata

I should have set my clock back, perhaps
by 300 years if merely to pay due respect
to this ancient capital with centuries of
outlandish and yet deadly and callous history
behind it.

As we made our final approach to the runway
I began seeing, through gaps of lower winter
clouds, its aerial facet for the first time
in my life.

I had dreamt about it!!!

The town appeared spiky with all those
Gothic buildings, bristling with towers and spires and
minalets, with the Danube running majestically
across the entire area.

The Danube is known to history as one of the
long standing frontiers of the Roman Empire,
the river flowing through and forming a part

of the borders of countries like Austria,
Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria,
Romania, Moldova, and Ukraine.

The air crisp and the temperature sub-zero
and trees lining the autobahn were quite a
contrast to what I had seen earlier during
my, by now, a month long business trip

elsewhere in Europe. Gladly, it was over.
I was into my own long cherrished days of
exploration.

I hate autobuses, no matter where I find
myself in the world. I was in a taxi, speeding
to the town centre on what I believed to be
an autobahn.

And as I looked out for road signs there were
Bratislava XXX km, Budapest YYY km, and a host
of other capitals that still scintillate in
history.

It was therefore no wonder that through
these corridors of land the Romans had ventured
out and pagans struck back in return,

from as far away as the the present day Iran
and part of areas surrounding the Black Sea,
let alone the present day Turkey.

After all, those capitals in the corridors
had been established largely by the Romans.
I was there in the dense history of it all.

I quickly checked in at the Mariott and went out
immediately and bumped into Saint Stephen's
Cathedral with horse drawn carts standing by
for tourists.

I was convinced that I was in Germany. Look at that
bloody big bird up there Where else, I wondered,
one might find one like that!

I went in there, and became a tourist for the
next one hour or so. Yes, I made it up to
the top and all the rest of it.

As I then moved away from it all and turned
a corner into the main street I saw that
it was teemed with musicians of all
descriptions.

With the Plague Column standing prominently
in the middle of it all it reminded me of
the deadly desease that must have terrified
the residents of this town in the long and
distant past.

After all I was right in the middle of the
European history and the Romans! and
above all else immensely liking it.

I turned away from the thicket of musicians
and started in the direction of my hotel.
Then something reached my ears, something

so vaguely familiar to me. I could not make
it out immediately. So, I trod back to
its source, which I located just off
the main street in a small sideway.

There was this very tall fellow with an
accoustic guitar. I knew what he was playing
by the time I got closer to him.

Off course it was the Moonlight Sonata,
but then how? It was intriguing to see
how on our planet it could be played on
an accoustic guitar at all.

He wore jeans cut off high and you could see
sandals! with tire tread soles in the middlle
of the winter!!!

I was also staggered that the sound he was
making was so deafeningly loud, reverberating
all around, bouncing off cobble stones,

off shops and flats made of bricks
and stones that must have been there for centuries.

I was dead sure that winter's wilted air and its clarity must
have added to its effect.

Yet another harsh mid European winter was arriving
in earnest and you could see that people
were still happily wearing their T-shirts.

I remained particulary interested in
that sequence of the score which I had
hated so much at home.

Beethoven, there, must have somehow lost
his concentration and standing idle before
he came up with an idea to move on.

As I listened he was fast approaching that
part of the score and hell! it was a relevation!
That is how you might play it!

Beethoven was being resurrected and even
the way he swung his guitar around was something
very pleasing to watch.

Swaying, swaying , swaying, to and fro,
up and down and on went the melanchoric
sound of his accoustic guitar, rising ever so
slowly into the by now semidark sky of this

aristocratic town , mingling so elegantly
with its background of eternity and
above all my own presence therein.